About

Simon Carne is a writer, speaker and, until his retirement, an independent adviser to regulatory bodies and professional organisations. At the heart of all his work has been a talent for breaking a problem down and re-constituting the issues in a form which leads more naturally and more easily to a solution — and to a proof (where proof is needed) of the solution’s validity.

In a career spanning 40 years, he worked, as a policy advisor, with many of the UK’s senior regulators and, as an expert adviser in litigation, with all the “magic circle” law firms. In the 1980s, he set up one of the UK’s first forensic accounting and expert witness services. Later, he led the UK forensic arm of a firm of economic consultants. Typical projects for his clients included:

Example appointments (past and present)
  • Member of Ofwat’s Advisory Panel (2015-21)
  • Member of Ofcom’s Academic Panel (2017-18)
  • Member of Oftel’s Panel of Economic and Business Advisers (1994-2003)
  • Guest columnist, Financial Times, on Legal and Regulatory Affairs (1989-1999)
  • Member of Financial Reporting Council’s Disciplinary Tribunal (2011-18)
  • Association of Cambridge Mediators, Panel Member (2010-14)
  • Nominet Panel, determining disputes over .uk domain name registration (2001-03)
  • Member of Institute of Actuaries’ Disciplinary Tribunal (1989-2001)
  • Visiting Lecturer, Imperial College Business School (2011-15)
  • Visiting Lecturer, Bayes Business School (2009-2011)
  • Visiting Lecturer, City St George’s, University of London, Department of Economics (1998-2000)
  • Chairman, R G Kensington Management (2001-07 & 2012-), a residential management company
  • Member of Council, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (2001-06)
  • Member of Council, Academy of Experts, the professional body for expert witnesses (1988-1995)

After graduating from Oxford with a degree in mathematics, he became a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, a qualification that he maintained for 35 years. In the final few years of his career, he became an accredited mediator.

Regulation

An unusual range of expert knowledge, intellectual rigour and playfulness in making us challenge our ideas.
Chris Kenny, Former Director of Regulatory Policy, Oftel

Simon Carne was often a sounding board for new regulatory policy ideas before publication or submission as evidence to appeal bodies. For nine years, he was a member of the Director General’s Panel of Business and Economic Advisers at the UK’s first economic regulator, Oftel. Subsequently, he held similar roles at other regulators and with the project team creating a new regulator for the press.

Expert evidence, analysis and dispute resolution

In one of the most complex trials which has ever taken place in the Commercial Court, Simon played a key role in developing winning strategies.
George Leggatt QC

In the 1980s, Simon Carne thought accounting firms should offer expert witness and forensic services. The idea was unheard of at the time and the firm he was with, Ernst & Young, took a little persuading that there was a viable market for the service. But, with a little persistence, he was able to persuade them to give it a go. In subsequent years, persistence and persuasion became the hallmarks of his litigation work.

In addition to leading the UK forensic accounting practice at Ernst & Young and subsequently at an international firm of economic consultants,  he served three terms as a member of the Institute of Actuaries’ disciplinary tribunal and two terms as a member of Nominet’s panel for determining disputes over the ownership of .uk domain names. He has also been a panel member with Cambridge Mediators for general commercial mediation, as well as a couple of pro bono providers, LawWorks and Wandsworth Mediation Service.

Communication

His research into reporting techniques to win over clients and the courts in equal measure served him well. His work as both a newspaper columnist and an expert adviser demonstrates that his ideas cope with challenge in the court of public opinion as comfortably as they withstand the intense scrutiny of a court of law or regulatory tribunal.

In 2020, he published I learned to write, an exposition of his writing techniques, initially as a website and, latterly, as a book. Previously, he taught this material as part of MSc programs at two of London’s top business schools, as well as at professional firms and financial services organisations.

Someone stuck a knife in my neck last week. Fortunately for me …
Simon Carne, A Frog in My Throat

Applying the techniques from I learned to write, he now maintains Irregular Thoughts, a Substack site, addressing matters of the day that capture his attention. External publications he has written for include the Financial Times, The Times and many professional journals. He delights in exposing a lack of clarity in conventional thinking where he believes it exists. Subjects that have received this treatment include Microsoft’s anti-competitive behaviour, press freedom and a potty-mouthed priest.

Contact Simon Carne

Do please email Simon Carne if you would like to discuss any of the matters described on these pages.

You can subscribe to his Irregular Thoughts column by entering your email address on the right. New articles will be notified to you by email sent from simoncarne@substack.com, with the sender’s name “Simon Carne’s Irregular Thoughts“.